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150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekanada On the Spot Essay Competition held at GIIS on 30th October 2013 Excerpts from the Prize Winning Essays

R. Arvind Alagappan 6C 1st Prize (Category 1)

I like Swami Vivekananda. I like him because of his unique style of standing. This shows that he is a brave man. He is also handsome with his red dress and orange turban on the top. He is brave because he had learnt to sacrifice at a very young age. When a beggar passes his way and asks for something, he will immediately give whatever he had. Swami Vivekananda learnt to sacrifice from his father- Vishwanath Datta.

Nithikasni Tharmaraj 5C 2nd Prize (Category 1)

He had highlighted children to be moral, brave and sympathetic. Swami Vivekananda is my greatest inspiration. He had inspired my thoughts and actions. I love Swami Vivekananda.

Shreesh Amit 3B 3rd Prize (Category 1)

His posture tells us “Go on bravely. Do not expect success in a day. Always hold on to the highest. Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be steady, obedient and faithful to the cause of truth and your country.”

Imelda Sandrasegaran 8C 1stPrize (Category 2)

At the age of adolescence, I have had many disagreements with my family and I felt that they couldn’t understand me, but Swami Vivekananda’s words of wisdom always told me to understand my parents and love them just the way he did.

Rahul Chander 7B 2nd Prize (Category 2)

As an eleven-years-old, I am greatly inspired by Swami Vivekananda and his life stories. In him and his stories lies a friend, who seems to have an answer to all my friendship problems. Swami tells me to share my joys and issues with my friends, and help them do the same. I must thank my friends from the heart and let them know I value their helps. I should inspire and motivate my friends to achieve the success they desire in life. I must show and correct their mistakes.

Devinya 6C 3rd Prize (Category 2)

True friendship is basically an opinion. Some people say it is a combination of loyalty and honesty but others beg to differ. The definition of a friend has changed tremendously but some such as Swami Vivekananda always had a friend to support him. I had a similar experience. In my previous school, I had a few guy friends who were my best friends. Even when I got transferred to GIIS, we would still go to other’s house, attend their functions, etc.

Logan Chandrasegaran 10'C 1st Prize (Category 3)

The trigger of the sensation that we humans call peace, hinder a unique thought in our scrambled mind that provoked our thought in such a way that we tend to grow into it. The more we grow into our mind’s capacity, the less negativity we portrait in our actions. This can only be achieved by a willing mentor that is devoted to the art of teaching and preaching. That’s where Swami Vivekananda comes into the picture.

Mannat 8B 2nd Prize (Category 3)

His teachings were mainly based on character building, education, religion and womanhood. He believed in giving right and positive education because he thought that negative thoughts, weakened men. As for his views on womanhood, he said that a soul doesn’t have any gender, or cast. And he believes that for the good progress of a nation, for example, India, women need to be treated properly as their progress will also progress the nation.

Kirthika Padmanapan 9C 3rd Prize (Category 3)

One of my favourite quotes by Swami Vivekananda, is, style="color: #F3D70C;">‘You are what your thoughts have made you, so take care about what you think…’ This means that you should always have good thoughts, that are positive, whether about yourself, or about others. In the end, he went to a guru, who told him that to believe in God, he had first believed in himself. Biley will be always be remembered as the ‘greatest teacher who ever lived’ as despite being known and respected by so many, still remained humble.

Akshaja Chand 12A 1st Prize (Category 4)

Heroism is always fighting with weapons or saving the world like fictional characters (superman). It means to be honest, kind and brave to accept the truth and defeat. To treat everyone equal and it also means to have the power to forgive. Swami Vivekananda is one such hero and he and his belief should not be forgotten.

Namrata Mantri 11A 2nd Prize (Category 4)

His teaching and his message to the world was simple yet extremely empowering and rejuvenating. He proclaimed that ignorance and fear were the greatest and the root cause of all evils. He brought out the true essence of the Vedanta philosophy and preached the message of Vedas. Illuminating and empowering the whole of mankind and showing us the path of righteousness and morality. In times of moral crisis and self douts, we always have Swami Vivekananda to empower us and to help us achieve our goals. We only have to remember him and his words and like the superhero of our imagination.

Samhita Chowdary 11A 3rd Prize (Category 4)

I consider Swami Vivekananda as my teacher because he taught us lessons which motivated all of us. He always said that religion is your true self. He not only motivated us but he bought about a change in the way people think. His very famous quotes ‘Wake Up, work until you reach your goal’ motivate every individual of India to work hard until the goal is reached.